Being Right

It appears these days that the United States is at an all time low point in its standing with the international community. It seems straightforward to pin that on a particular recent period in our history, with a singularly unpopular administration, an unpopular war, and an international economic crisis which many lay at the door step of the United States. Yet the seeds of this antipathy have been there for decades, if not centuries. It may be worth considering the root causes of this lack of international alignment between the US and its international counterparts to see if there are lessons for the coaching community. Why this level of hostility? Why do other countries interpret what we Americans see as well justified confidence as arrogance? Can coaches glean any lessons that apply to their dialogues with their clients?

America is a country with a very strong self image. From our beginnings, Americans have felt a unique calling to leadership, driven by very strong beliefs in the rightness of our democratic institutions and our “manifest destiny”, first to populate our large country with a European culture and ultimately to lead the rest of the world to similar models and presumably, similar levels of “success”.

What’s wrong with being right and acting on that belief? Isn’t that the moral, courageous thing to do?

In his excellent book, Language and the Pursuit of Happiness, Chalmers Brothers makes the case that people’s view of what is “right” is strongly driven by their experiences (which over time drive their belief systems), their moods, and their physical environment. What’s “right” for me (or for my group, my company, or my country) is a function of all three, and over time, it becomes institutionalized as an absolute truth. As individuals or groups struggle with setting a direction or making a decision, it is comforting to rest on what they believe to be universal truths regarding the rightness of that path. The problem is that their very definition of rightness is a unique product of very different sets of cultures, experiences, beliefs, and the moods which surround them. So a relationship or action strategy founded on the notion of “rightness” may be in trouble from the start. Once we accept a specific definition of what is right, we are closed off from considering other realities, other stories. History is full of cases where countries or groups have committed unspeakable atrocities in full belief in the rightness of those actions in supporting a particular belief system.

So what is the implication for coaches?

Our job is to help our client use every resource at their disposal to get the full view, as full as they can possible make it. It helps to begin with the assumption that none of us have total access to “the truth”. If a client (and their coach) can accept that, then it is easier to challenge the idea that a different idea, a different story, is necessarily “not right”. The coach can explore with the client what set of experiences or observations led them to a particular belief. Instead of asking about right or wrong, they can substitute another set of questions: How is that working for you? Could it be different and still equally valid? How would that impact your beliefs, your mood, your direction, and your plan of action? Our ability as coaches to help our clients become clear about their possibilities is directly driven by our abilities to help them develop clarity about the impact of their beliefs on their perceptions of the new challenge, and the ability to envision a different reality

With a fresh way to interpret their experience, the coach can help the client write a different story that works better for them.

Professional coaching - a new tool for the sales manager?

In my 20 plus years of sales management, the term “coaching” is commonly used to mean that in-the-moment performance feedback that sales managers give their team members after a sales call or some other significant event in a sales cycle. It also very often has a negative connotation, as it takes on a remedial tone.

As the business world is increasingly embracing the value of professional coaching to improve individual and organizational results, it might be time to expand the coaching lexicon to include the role that professional coaches can play in developing your sales team, and especially your high performers.

What is Professional Coaching?

The international Coach Federation defines Professional Coaching as “a professional partnership between a qualified coach and an individual or team that supports the achievement of extraordinary results, based on goals set by the individual or team. Through the process of coaching, individuals focus on the skills and actions needed to successfully produce their personally relevant results.”

How does it work?

The heart of the process is a dialogue between an individual or group and a professional coach. The discussion will focus on a topic chosen by the coachee. Topics often come from their professional life: an important near term challenge to be met; a need to increase their knowledge; a need to improve their ability to perform an important task; a need to increase their overall level of job performance. Personal or life goals usually relate strongly to our performance in the business setting. In that sense, the coaching might also address some of the following goals: identification and leverage of personal strengths; improving and work or communication styles; a need to make critical life or career choices; work-life balance; personal organization and life management.

The role of the coach is to help their client achieve clarity on their goals, a plan to achieve the goals, identification of barriers and inhibitors, and a specific plan of action. Regular dialogue with the coach facilitates the formulation of the plan and helps the client make steady progress and hold themselves accountable to the action plan.

In the coaching sessions, coaches apply a range of techniques drawn from professional management practices, the behavioral sciences, and best practices drawn from their personal experience and research and the support of organizations such as the International Coach Federation.

How does it differ from what I do in the course of supervising my team?

The manager and the coach share an important goal: That the coachee become successful and make significant contributions to their company and their individual careers.

The professional coach brings a different perspective to that goal. They approach the coaching engagement as a partner rather than a supervisor. That perspective enables them to afford the coachee a level of safety and confidentiality that they may not feel with their manager. The coach, as a third party, is able to achieve a level of objectivity that may be difficult for a manager within the organization to achieve.

The coachee recognizes that the manager and the company are making a visible investment in them and their future. That can pay benefits in their personal level of motivation, and their loyalty to the company.

How can I include it in the development program for my team?

Coaching can take a number of different forms.

It can occur individually or in groups. Coaching clients can be high potential employees where the company is wanting to accelerate their personal and professional growth. On the other hand, coaching clients can be employees with job performance issues where the company is seeking to go the extra mile in affording them the opportunity to improve their performance. While those two examples hit both ends of the performance spectrum, every sales professional can benefit from assistance in clarifying their goals, and building an actionable plan to reach them.

What are the signals that indicate that professional coaching might make a real difference?

Take some time to evaluate if there is something in your sales environment that might provide the “compelling event” for putting professional coaching to work with your team:

• Is there a critical challenge at stake that will make a material impact on the success of the company?
• Is there a compelling need to address it quickly?
• Is there a visible and critical gap in some aspect of your team’s ability to be successful?
• Has the organization missed a key objective and you are looking for a way to get them back on track?
• Has one of your successful team members experienced a step function decrease in their performance?

How would I get started in putting professional coaching to work with my team?

Drop me a line and I would be happy to discuss your situation with you. I’ll take you through a sample coaching session, using your performance improvement goals as the topic of our short discussion. You’ll get a sense for the coaching dynamic, and we’ll talk about the best way to put it this powerful process to work for you.